Hi,
my name’s Pietro Cristofoli and I’m posting from Italy.
I've tried to post this message in the official NCSoft BBS but my trial account is expired :(
I'm a writer of a very popular (and aged: we've celebrated our 200th issue two years ago) Italian monthly Macintosh magazine.
I write consumer-related articles and reviews almost every month (I’m a bit lazy) and I'm planning a huge article that will try to cover some of the MMORPG games that have reached our platform in the last few years (like World of Warcraft, Everquest Mac Edition, Shadowbane, Minions of Mirth, Second Life, A Tale in the Desert II, Vendetta Online, Lineage and some other interesting shareware and open-source projects like Planeshift and Dofus).
I'd like to supplement this report with a short description of each title and so I’ve tried to play each of them shortly (10-15 hours of gameplay for each one, just to take some in-game screenshots and have a taste of them).
Of course, my main source of informations and feeling are the communities of players like yours.
I’ve (slowly) started this project more than one year ago but I was waiting for the right time to start discussing its pubblication with the editorial staff and this time has come. I’ve already tried almost all the aforementioned MMORPG titles with the excepion for EQMac and Second Life.
I activated the Lineage trial a few weeks ago but at that time I wasn’t able to play this game a lot ‘cause of time constraints ...
Anyway, I've soon discovered that there are a lot of Lineage players that love to help newcomers like me and this really amazed me :)
Now, would you help me discover the pros and cons of this game?
Here’s my questions for the Mac Lineage community:
- almost three years after its debut on the Mac platform and with the arrival of commercial hits like World of Warcraft and fresher projects like Minions of Mirth and Planeshift, is Lineage still an option for the Mac gamers that would like to start a new MMORPG experience?
- the Lineage community today should be made above all by hard-core players and veterans but it seems that finding helpful and friendly players that help the newcomers isn't that hard… do Lineage veterans still believe in the future of this game and do they plan to support it in the coming months?
- most of you have played since the very beginning ... do you think that the Mac version of Lineage has been profitable for NCSoft and that they will support the Mac platform again in the future?
Thanks in advance for your help.
One more thing: my character has not reached a level high enough to see interesting MOBs and places so ... it would be great if someone post here some interesting screenshots for my article ...
Pietro
(www.applicando.com)
PS
I want to ask the same questions to other MMORPG-related communities son don’t get angry if you’ll discover the same words somewhere
_________________
Pietro Cristofoli
I don't play this game on a
I don't play this game on a Mac so I guess I'll just put in my opinion of the game.
Compared to most other MMORPG games I've played, Lineage is very simple and straight forward. There are not many skills or different paths to take in this game. However that also is a negative. Other than hunting there isn't much else to do. It's kind of better now than it was back in beta. Now you have easy access to hastes, braves, mana pots, enchant scrolls, and walking long distances is no longer required. It's as if everyone is in too much of a hurry to cut some golem in half to enjoy those nice apple trees.
Quests are limited and their entertainment value minimal. When I was bored I would do one of 2 thing: Enchant and tame pets.
Enchanting in Lineage is probably what keeps many people playing. It's addictive because it's basically gambling. Use an enchant scroll on an item and you have a chance to either improve it, or maybe vaporize it. I would play and hunt sometimes just to get money for enchanting...
Taming is somewhat different. I would say it's got that Pokemon thing going for it. You tame yourself a pup and level it up, and to some it quite enjoyable.
The biggest pro to Lineage would be the community. Of the 4 times I quit, I went back 3 times because of friends. The circle of friends, and even enemies, keeps you wanting to go back to see how they are doing. Sometimes I would use Lineage like a chatting client. Just sit in town and chat.
Cons of the game? Well, like all MMO's, after the initial short ooo's and aaah's (which is really short for Lineage 1), you find yourself grinding it out, the higher level you get the more so, doing the same exact thing hour after hour, day after day. Some people joke that it's as if we pay NCsoft 15$/month to work there.
Another con would be the aging graphics. I personally like the looks of Lineage. It had that old gainy Fallout look, but most people now like the flashy 3D graphics. To me it's like comparing walnuts to apples. Oranges and apples are just too close =) NC has recently been improving the "flashiness" but personally, I think it's left the original "comics" look.
Then there's the bots, the many, many, many bots. You can easily find them in the wasteland below Oren(Ivory Tower Town), and various other areas. Just find one and drop a iron on the floor. If the idiot come dashing over from half way across the screen and doesn't ever answer you, then you most likely have a bot. These bots hunt for pretty much 24/7 and net their user huge profits, which they probably turn around and sell for real life money. I would say at any given moment there's probably over 50 bots running on just LoA.
However that's not the worst of Lineage. The worst has got to be the customer support. I know it's not NCsoft. I know it's not even Lineage 1. People rate very highly games like City of Heros and Lineage Korea. However the support for Lineage-US is just deplorable. They rarely address problems, if they do, they have no idea what you are even having problems with, and the cut/paste e-mail responses are just smack of nonchalance in peoples faces. Personally I think Lineage-US is just a training ground for other devisions of NCsoft-US. Year after year I see one guy get promoted after another. You never hear about someone leaving NCsoft. It's always to another devision of NCsoft. They don't really care if everyone quits, since they make more money in one day on other games than in a year of Lineage-US. They also know you probably won't quit.
I’ve played this game for a very long time. I started about 6 months before it went gold and have followed it pretty much constantly. I’ve been to almost everywhere in the Aden world and seen all of the monsters that was out up to episode 3. However I recently left Lineage, probably forever. Is this the most fun MMO out there? No. Is this the worst? No. But dammit, it’s probably the most addictive one ever. Cold turkey is hard, and the most written phrase to someone who says “I quit” is “You’ll be back.”
Oh yea, be sure to send us all a copy or link to the artical. I look forward to reading it.
Thank you very much Kirby
Thank you very much Kirby and sorry if I have not replied before ...
As soon as I know when the article will be published I'll post here ...
Ciao.
Pietro Cristofoli
Ora d'Aria Team
Almost three years after its
It's a hard starter - but it's always an option. NCsoft itself is constantly making changes to the way new players get into the game... Speaking as a player, we are always happy to see new faces. Especially on some of the older servers :)
Absolutley. We shall not be moved :)
I've played for 3 years now... and in that time have been part of an all-mac-gamers team. There are quite a few of us out here. As to whether or not NC has profited from us... Who's to say - It all depends on just how good their code is i guess.
None of their new games support the mac platoform - mostly due to the use of the propriatry/custom windows-based graphics engines... Something that has upset many of their mac gamers.
Here I am ... I'm sorry it
Here I am ... I'm sorry it has taken so long.
I've delivered my article last June in form of an introductory survey. Essentially, it's more a cumulative review than an essay (it would be boring).
The article has been published a few days ago in the August issue of my mag.
These scans are not readable, of course. I've post them only to show you that your help has been precious ...
http://img392.imageshack.us/my.php?image=200607261400apicop243vu5.jpg (cover)
http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1wj0.jpg
http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2dr2.jpg
http://img414.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3kb3.jpg
http://img414.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4ba2.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/my.php?image=5rn0.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/my.php?image=6tx3.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7qm5.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/my.php?image=8xn2.jpg
Lineage is one of the MMORPGs for Mac that are reviewed as "the magnificent 10, of course.
Thank you very much for your help.
Pietro Cristofoli
Ora d'Aria Team
Well, my Italian sucks, but
Well, my Italian sucks, but you gave us some very pretty pictures to look at ^.^
I really gotta start downloading pics for the future when we may not have Lineage anymore (shudder). Far future I hope.
Chee!
---
BearClan, still hibernating but that *may* change...
Hello all ... I've found a
Hello all ... I've found a 15 days time card and I've decided to try Lineage again for a couple of weeks ...
I can log on and play using my Lineage account (macpete) but I can't use my old forum account (pcristofol, "Login Name/Password not found") and if I try to register a new account it says "User registrations are not being accepted at this time".
Maybe the BBS backend has been changed from 2006 but why registrations are not being accepted?
Pietro Cristofoli
Ora d'Aria Team
I believe the old lineage
I believe the old lineage forums are being updated. once the new "boards" are up they are going to have user registrations again. please see lineageone "cricket speaks and Episode 6" on the home page articles.
welcome back and gl.
by the way lineage is an indepth and long term game. playing for a few weeks might not get you a well defined playing model. play for 6 months to a year to get full flavor with all the good and bad that lineage has to offer.
Molindar
macpete, if you had an
macpete, if you had an official nc board account and can remember the login name for it just contact customer support and have the last 4 digits of the original credit card you used to open the account and they will send the details to you
I think it used to be 30 or
I think it used to be 30 or so days of an account being inactive your board name got deleted. Now that the boards are broken you dont even have to have a active account to post on the boards just a boardname and pass.
Thank you, Molindar. Pietro
Thank you, Molindar.
Pietro Cristofoli
Ora d'Aria Team
I am a "old school gamer". I
I am a "old school gamer". I grew up on role playing games for the SNES. Some of my favorites are "Tales of Phantasia", "Seiken Denetsu 3" and "Final Fantasy 4 and 6". I was attracted to lineage cause it has a old school feel to it and to be honest at the time there wasn't a whole lot of options for the Mac. I am very happy that I found it. Anyone who grew up on the 16-bit platform and still enjoys a 2d game Lineage is a good choice. I have been playing for 2.5 years now and I enjoy it more now. Ill admit it is pretty tough getting started in this game but that is a strength in my opnion. NC should market to people like me. If they beef up the client i.e. Ultima Online they will attract new gamers and bring back old ones.
Thank you Pietro for giving press to Lineage 1